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Archive for July, 2011

I am a member of the Improv Community

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

What is a community?

I think we all agree that a community is made up of a group of people with common goals, ideas or needs.  This commonality can be location, spiritual or interest oriented.  The community can not be centered around one person or just one thing or it is just a cult.  It must be something broader that transcends the here and now.  It must be big enough that many different people can find a value of coming together under the umbrella of the community.

Communities are also inclusive.  They bring in everyone and welcome everyone.  They support and encourage everyone at every level of commitment to the community.  If the community stops being patient and starts ridiculing others, it stops being a community and starts being a club or a clique.   Without this idea of supporting and encouraging people to take the next step deeper into the community it fails.

According to the Oxford Press:

The word “community” is derived from the Old French communité which is derived from the Latin communitas (’cum’ = “with/together” + ‘munus’ = “gift”), a broad term for fellowship or organized society.

So community is not only a group of people with a commonality, but a group of people in service, or with a duty to each other.  So community means we are in service to the others in the community.

We in the improv community need to remember to be in service to each other.  Each next level needs to reach out to the level before it and encourage, support and help.

Improv players need to encourage each other.  At the Bovine when we go out on stage the last thing we say to each other is “I got your back”.  We need to act on that on stage and off. Not just to other players, but we also need to reach out to the current students and newbies and encourage them to keep going and keep having fun.  There are no cliques in an improv community, because cliques are divisive, mean and exclusive.

Coaches and teachers need to encourage each other and support each other.  We need to mentor the people who want to coach and/or teach.  We need to encourage the new players and coach the current players to support each other on and off stage.

During classes and rehearsals we need to remember that there are no good players and bad players.  There are only people who want to be a part of this community and we need to encourage and support them.

Simply put, community’s are inclusive, bring everyone up and are about service.

As always, due to the huge amount of spam we receive,  if you please make sure you include the word “improv” in any comments you leave, we will make sure that they get added to the post.  Thanks!

Posted in By Author, Eric Farone, Overview | 4 Comments »

I am an improviser!

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

I am an improviser.

I Serve:  I serve the scene, my fellow players and improv.  I serve the purpose that I have in the scene.  I serve my fellow players in that I support whatever they are bringing to the scene.  My fellow players are the most important thing in the scene and I will treat them that way. I serve improvisation, in that I want to go toward the unknown and not stay in what I have already figured out.

I Add:  I must bring something as a gift to the scene, the other players and myself.  I add by bringing something extra.  I must not only accept what has happened in the scene, I must contribute and build.  I add by accepting and accentuating what you have brought to the scene.

I Will Bring Myself: I will fully commit to each scene, each character and each moment.  I will never be myself on stage, but always bring myself to the character.  Playing with all of my knowledge, beliefs and fears.  I will play characters who are real to me, so that they can seem real to the audience. If my strong suit is adding color I will add color. If my strong suit is to add energy, I will add energy.  I will play to my strengths to add to and serve the group.

Group Mind: I will serve group mind.  I will bring myself, add and adapt to the group.  If the group is going somewhere I am not comfortable with, I will speak up, because I am part of the group.  If the groups direction and my own are different, I will add, adapt, change or find a new group.  When teaching a class I will serve group mind by making sure that everyone is welcome and accepted.  When directing a group I will serve group mind by making sure that all people are heard, that all are valued and that everyone has the same mind-set and goal, which the group has determined by virtue it’s make-up.

I will be truthful: I realize that realism and comedy come from being truthful on stage.  I will be truthful in accepting my choices and declarations on stage as being true.  I will be truthful in accepting your choices as true (even if I have no idea how it fits). I will be as honest as I can be in our interactions.

I will have fun!  This art is all about fun.  Our fun, the audience’s fun, the evening’s fun.  I will have fun.  I will never get angry about a choice that someone has made.  It is only improv, if you can’t laugh at it, it’s not fun.

Posted in By Author, Eric Farone, Overview | 2 Comments »